Another 10 games of NHL pre-season action last night as teams continue to trim and tweak their rosters.
The Night that Was:
-The Toronto Maple Leafs played their third game in as many days Wednesday, and rounded out that stretch going 2-1, winning their third game 4-2 over the Philadelphia Flyers. Juraj Mikus opened the scoring for the Leafs, while Joe Colbourne added another and Matt Frattin scored two. Colby Armstrong had a pair of assists for the Leafs and Tomas Hyka and Erik Gustaffson each scored a goal for the Flyers. Ilya Bryzgalov played the entire game for Philadelphia and the Leafs split the game between Jonas Gustavsson and Ben Scrivens. The game was marred however, by a hit from behind by Jody Shelly on Darryl Boyce. Boyce broke his nose on the play and Shelly received a boarding major.
-Sidney Crosby wasn’t back but Evgeni Malkin was for the Pittsburgh Penguins yesterday. Malkin finished the night with a goal and an assist and Matt Niskanen and Chris Kunitz also scored for the Pens and 2011 first rounder Joe Morrow had an assist in the 3-2 win against the Detroit Red Wings. Pavel Datsyuk had two assists for the Wings while wearing number 24 in honour of his friend Ruslan Salei. He will wear 24 the rest of training camp.
-Roman Hamrlik and Jeff Halpern each had a goal and an assist for the Capitals but Washington fell in overtime to Columbus 4-3 in overtime. Maksim Mayorov had a goal and an assist for the Jackets and so did David Savard, but it was Alexandre Giroux who scored the goal that mattered in OT.
-In Montreal, Max Pacioretty made his return to the NHL and played 23 minutes in his return, but finished a minus-three, although he also had six shots and three hits. He was one of three players on the Canadiens that were a minus-three, as Montreal fell 3-1 to Buffalo. Ryan Miller stopped all 11 shots he faced, Christian Ehrhoff had a goal and an assist, and Jason Pominville and Tyler Ennis added goals for the Sabres. PK Subban had Montreal’s only goal.
-The Stanley Cup champs opened up their exhibition season yesterday, and surely they would have liked a nicer start. The Boston Bruins fell to the Ottawa Senators in OT last night, 2-1. Lane MacDermid actually opened the scoring for the Bruins, but Brian Lee scored just over a minute later to tie the game up. From there, it wasn’t until 3:17 of OT when Mika Zibanejad scored that there was another scorer. Lee and Nick Foligno each finished with two points for Ottawa.
-The San Jose Sharks beat up on the Anaheim Ducks last night, 6-1. Logan Couture had two goals, while Sean Sullivan, Jason Demers, Justin Braun, and Ryan Clowe all had two points as well and eight other players recorded points and Thomas Greiss played the entire evening. Andrew Gordon had the only goal of the game for the Ducks and it was actually the opening marker of the evening.
-OHL co-scoring champ Tyler Toffoli scored for the L.A. Kings last night in their 3-2 win over the Phoenix Coyotes. Also scoring were Ethan Moreau and Dustin Penner, but the line of the night belonged to Trevor Lewis, who had three assists. Keith Yandle and Shane Doan both scored for the Coyotes.
-The Other half of these teams played in a game that required a shootout. Ethan Werek scored in regulation for Phoenix and Viatcheslav Voynov scored in regulation for Los Angeles, and despite Dustin Brown’s goal in the shootout, Phoenix got tallies from Andy Miele and Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
-Chris Stewart had three points for the Blues in a 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, in a game that looked like it was destined for overtime. Adam Cracknell scored however, with just 2:20 remaining. Marc-Andre Bergeron and Eric Brewer were among the goal-scorers for Tampa Bay.
-Patrick Elias had the game-winner for the Devils in overtime as New Jersey beat the New York Rangers last night 2-1. Dale Weise had the lone goal for the Rangers while the Devils’ other goal was scored by Petr Sykora.
What’s On Tonight?
Just five games on the exhibition schedule tonight. Chicago vs. Pittsburgh, Detroit vs. Philadelphia, Minnesota vs. St. Louis, Colorado vs. Dallas, Vancouver vs. Edmonton.
Other News and Notes:
-Mark Streit has been named the 13th Captain in the history of the Islanders franchise. Streit didn’t play last year because of a shoulder injury, but has had seasons of 56 and 49 points in his career as an Islander. He is the first Swiss-born Captain in NHL history.
-RJ Umberger has got himself a new contract as he and the Blue Jackets agreed on an extension worth $23-million over five years. It’s a $4.6-million cap hit for the former Philadelphia Flyer.
-After 21 seasons in the NHL, Mike Modano intends to announce his retirement Friday at a press conference. Modano spent 20 of those 21 seasons with the Minnesota/Dallas franchise, and is the top-scoring American-born player of all-time in both goals and total points. He spent last year in Detroit, but battled injuries.
-After two points in his exhibition debut, Sean Couturier was signed to a three-year, entry-level deal yesterday. With the changes altering the franchise in the off-season, the eighth-overall pick is expected to be a big part of the Flyers’ future.
You can follow Bryan on Twitter at BryanThiel_88.